And when sleeping pills aren't enough to help patients stay alert, a wakefulness drug called Provigil is already approved for excessive daytime sleepiness caused by narcolepsy, sleep apnea and shift-work sleep disorder--the exhaustion brought on in some people by working the night shift.

FORBES: Sleep On Demand

Antonio Horta-Osorio, the chief executive of Lloyds who took a leave of absence from the bank because of exhaustion, wishes to return to work, I am reliably informed.

BBC: Lloyds' exhausted boss wants to return

For professionals (like me) who deal in reputation preservation and enhancement, the challenge is to reaffirm the critical value of that work even as the intensity of public reactions subsides during a period of scandal-exhaustion.

FORBES: Wall Street's Prestige: The Less There Is to Go Around, the More Valuable It Gets